9/30/2004

Pinson Burch

Pinson was born in Union County, Georgia to Henry
Hardy & Mariah Jane [Brown] Burch. He and two
younger brothers, B.J. & Mercer, enlisted together at
Yellville, AR on 6/28/1862 and served in Co.K of the
27th Arkansas Infantry (Shaler’s) Regiment, Pinson
having had the advantage of having formerly served in
the 5th Regiment Arkansas State Troops.

The youngest of these three brothers, Beckham
Judson, died of disease in the hospital in Little Rock, AR
on 1/20/1863, not yet seven months into his service.

Pinson (or simply “P.” as he was often called) was
captured later that same year on 9/10/1863 (the date
of the Battle of Bayou Fourche / Little Rock) and sent to
the POW camp in Rock Island, Illinois where he
remained a prisoner until just before the war’s end,
being forwarded to New Orleans, Louisiana, exchanged
on 3/4/1865 and paroled at Shreveport, Louisiana on
6/8/1865.

Pinson’s other younger brother, Mercer, had served as
the bugler for Co.K and was also paroled at Shreveport,
LA on 6/8/1865.

The 27th Arkansas fought at Prairie Grove, AR
(12/7/1862), Bayou Fourche, AR (9/10/1863),
Pleasant Hill, LA (4/9/1864) and Jenkins’ Ferry, AR
(4/30/1864). Their unit, consolidated with the 38th
Arkansas Infantry back in the spring of 1864, was
bloodied at Jenkins’ Ferry (suffering four killed and
twenty-two wounded) but, of course, Pinson wasn't
a part of this battle, having already been a POW at
Rock Island for seven months at the time.

Not long after the war’s conclusion, Pinson married
“Diana Jane Mathis” (b.12/15/1840 in AR; d.4/17/1896)
in Marion County, AR. Five children were born to
them - Michael Mathis, Walse Ann, Henry Hardin,
Robert E. Lee & Grover Cleveland. The family moved
to the Duncan area in Indian Territory around 1889.
Coming to Duncan proper during the town lot sale
around 1893, Pinson invested in “the half block
between 2nd and 3rd Streets on Main Street, thinking
as Duncan grew it would be part of the main business
district.” (History of Stephens County, p.222)

Things didn’t pan out Pinson’s way, though, when
business grew west, not east, of the railroad (5th
Street). So Pinson simply built a house on the property
and continued to raise his family there.

There is no indication of his Pinson’s military service
on his gravestone. And it should be noted that his
name is misspelled as “Prinson” on this gravestone!